Senior PAN Foresees Anies's Chances in 2029, Supporting Parties to Be Decisive
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Senior PAN politician Drajad Wibowo has foreseen Anies Baswedan’s political steps in the 2029 presidential election contest.
Drajad spoke in response to Anies’s opportunities in the 2029 presidential election alongside the emergence of a political vehicle supporting him, named Gerakan Rakyat.
“If it doesn’t (pass the threshold), then Mas Anies won’t be able to do much,” Drajad said in the Gaspol Kompas.com podcast programme on Tuesday (28/4/2026).
Gerakan Rakyat is a community organisation (Ormas) that supported Anies in the 2024 presidential election and has declared itself as a political party.
However, to date, Anies has not officially joined Gerakan Rakyat, which has stated it will nominate him in the 2029 presidential election.
He emphasised that there are many examples of figures who formed political parties but failed to develop because they could not enter parliament.
“Don’t forget, many figures who created parties ended up stuck there, not passing the threshold either; there are already many such cases,” he said.
“We will see later how Mas Anies’s party develops, whether it first passes the threshold, and then whether it gets enough seats,” he said.
If it does not meet the threshold, Drajad assessed that Anies’s chances of competing at the national level would be small, although there is still a possibility of using other schemes.
“Well, perhaps by exploiting a threshold that doesn’t exist, but we all know the chances are already low,” he stated.
Drajad reminded that the political dynamics leading to 2029 are actually getting closer.
Therefore, political figures with ambitions to run as presidential or vice-presidential candidates need to start working now.
“It’s not just that they have to work from now; they actually should have started working from last year,” he said.
According to him, not only presidential candidates but also prospective legislators need to start building support bases early because the election contests run concurrently.
Drajad likened the development of the political map ahead of 2029 to determining the start of Ramadan in the Hijriah calendar.
“It will be visible in 2028; if in Ramadan, the hilal (crescent moon) will start to appear,” he concluded.